Townhome With 8k In Arrears (assoc. Fees)
Anyone ever take over any townhomes subto? The numbers make it look like it will cash flow well:
ARV = $70k-$75k
Bank Payoff $55k
Mortgage Payment $233
Repair Estimate $1000
Rental Income = $850/mo
Assoc. Fees = $247/mo (@$8,000 in arrears)
The problem is the $8,000 in arrears.
I am thinking to put the house under contract subject to a discount being taken by the Association. Anyone ever worked with Townhome Associations? Who would actually make this type of decision? I wonder if I could just let this arrearage ride until I find a good tenant buyer to excercise their option so the bank funds the arrears at some time in the distant future?
Thanks again everyone!
JohnCl
i use a similar approach to get homeowners in foreclosure to call me.
It takes much more time (for my wife as my handwriting is not good up to her standards). But i agree it is well worth the time.
Geez, hand write a form letter leaving out the salutation and property address, use a fine point scripto, get a good xerox or printed copy. Then use the same fine point scripto to add the salutation and maybe the property address at the top. It will look handwritten and save you from carpel tunnel or arthritus.
Brenda
I have obviously thought about hand writing letters (or appearing to be), but I am undecided.
I have this feeling that you will get more responses from hand written letters, but maybe not more deals. My thinking is that the people who respond to hand written letters will think that you are specifically interested in their property and so they can charge a premium.
When people called from my letters, I use to act like theirs was the only letter I wrote. But I found they thought that they had something special and that I would pay a preium. Now I let them know that I am an investor and that I write a few letters. I find this keeps them more in line with what I am trying to accomplish.
Brenda
I applaud your decision, and congratulate you on your choice to take things a step further and set yourself apart from the others that would like to call themselves your competition. There are a couple of websites that you can get a font made based on a handwriting sample that you provide to them. You could save yourself some time without sacrificing that personal touch by having this done. You could use the form letter and mail-merge the addresses, Print them out using your own personal handwriting font, and you're done.
Try http://www.fontgarden.com/ or http://www.walterware.com/
Good luck,
Jeff
Hey,
Two quick points:
One, if I understand what you are doing correctly, you are going to contact ALL homeowners in a certain area. I think this is going to be a huge waste of time and energy. You need to narrow your scope and aim at one or two specific groups; for example, absent landlords. I would think with the shotgun approach, you will get tons of calls from non-motivated sellers.
Two, why does everyone think that handwriting a letter or an address will get you more responses? I have seen this written a hundred times, but no one ever has any facts to back it up. When I get a handwritten letter, I think "What...they could not afford a printer?".
I would not waste the time on handwriting anything, print the letters and mail them your target audience. Getting a letter to them is a 1000 times more important than if it handwritten.
Good luck!
I do have to agree with Bruce here.
My wife and I send out over 2000 letters a month, some handwritten and some not, basically half of the letters and envelopes are handwritten and half are typed.
We have done this for over 9 months now and I get responses from people I have sent to saying that my handwritten letter was the only reason they called me and that is was very personal.
On the other hand I get people that call me and say that the handwritten letter did not look professional BUT they still called.... I even get calls telling me that they have received handwritten letters and envelopes (from other investors) and they just threw them away (I apparently sent them a printed one.)
So the fact is that you just need to get a letter out to them period. One type does not work better than the other in my opinion.
Just my 2 cents.............
Dave
Yeah, I missed that part. I do recommend sending letters that appear to be handwritten, however, If you contrate on a target category like those with NOD's filed, your results will skyrocket.
jeff
You've all made great points.
Here's my demographic: Older folks and absent landlords.
Sorry I didn't make that clear before.
Thanks again,
OTW
Have you gone to a REI meeting? You may be able to ask other investors who they're using.
You'll need to find a loan servicing company before getting your first house, maybe ask them for some reccomendations.
Before emailing them, are you making sure they're real estate lawyers?
Approaching them in person may help, as well.
Went to REI club last thursday before Johns course came. Read it over the weekend and starting to locate the people I need. I am calling only real estate lawyers because some seem to dable in everything. I emailed the lawyer that gave a presentation at our meeting and haven't heard back from him yet. As far as a LSC I have a couple that are local who should I talk to there?
I'm not sure who to talk to about it at the LSC. I would think anyone there would be able to point you in the right direction.
Maybe go see the lawyer who spoke at your meeting in person. I would think he'd be willing to help you out.
Be sure you let the lawyers know you already have some forms, you just want them looked over. They don't need to agree with sub2, you're not asking for opinions. Just tell them you're an investor and you'd like them to look over some paper work for you.
Thanks for the response. The 1 from the meeting e mailed me back and said he was aware of it and how to do it and set it up. What would be a charge normally for a lawyer? I think I'll offer to take him golfing or lunch at a restraunt of his choice to look them over. Seems golf would be better since I could tap him for some info for 4 hrs. Either way would work. His rate at the bottom of his sheet is $225.00 per hour? Yikes.
I don't know, I haven't used one.
I'm glad that one is going to work with you. I would be interested in knowing if he accepts lunch or golf as full compensation for looking them over.
Keep me posted.
Ouch...I called talked to him about looking over the forms He said $225/hr. Then I said what about getting them off the net. The state specific ones and he said $225/hr. I then asked him if we could trade a lunch just to look at them and he said there is a cheap restraunt down the road we can go there....Long pause. Guess we wont be doing any business after all.[ Edited by ncboater on Date 07/20/2004 ]
Gee. I will also need to get mine state-specific. Did he tell you how many hours it should take him? Just 3 hours would be a lot of money for this. Too bad he won't charge you a flat fee of like $300 for this.
If you don't find someone else, I would ask how many hours to expect, and go for it. It's a lot of money, but you're talking about making a lot of money, too. I hear they have payment plans...
Also, I know it must feel like he's the only re lawyer around there, but there has GOT to be more choices for you. If he's a jerk, I would look harder. I would travel up to an hour or two away, if it meant saving several hundred dollars.
Cash's course recommends http://www.Martindale.com to find a real estate atty.
Kyle
Haven't talked again with him. I think I'll look for somebody else. Just trying to get this done quickly. I'll be looking at the web site from Johns course. I'll keep you posted. Thanks for the replies
Remember you can negoiate with lawyers regarding their fees and time. If you just want someone to look over your contracts and make state specific changes that should not take too much time for the attny. Most likely he will just look at his template contracts and add in what you are missing. Like a previous poster mentioned - see he will agree to a flat rate which might be discounted in anticipation of more business or referals.
NC has a lot of good law schools and your area of NC attracts many of them. You shouldn't have a problem finding a good and reasonable attny.
If you do go the Martindale route look for attnys with an "AV" rating. It is based on the attnys. ethics and legal knowledge/skill and might help you weed through the hundreds of names that will pop up on the website.
Good luck